Moleskine Notebooks, Journals and Date Books, MoleskineUS

Moleskine Notebooks, MoleskineUS

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m addicted to these notebooks.

A few weeks ago, Scott Hanselman (a rather brilliant gentleman I work with who runs a very popular technology blog) called me into his office for an impromptu meeting about a release we were wrapping up.

He took one look at the old, cheap, spiral bound notebook I was using and said “you’re still using those pieces of crap? Do you know about these?” He then handed me his moleskine. Hardback, nice paper, solid binding, pocket in the back. Very nice notebook. He then sent me a couple URLs of people describing the different ways they use them.

I had just started reading “Getting Things Done” (an organizational system that is frequently documented online – I’ll cover that on here eventually) and noticed that one of the links Scott sent me showed how someone uses these notebooks with that system.

I headed over to Barnes & Noble that afternoon and bought one. (Large, ruled for the skine-ers out there.)

I’m officially hooked. I’ve since bought two more (pocket, grid for using GTD in my personal life, and pocket, ruled for my miniatures painting log.)

Ever notice how having a nice place to write something encourages you to write? I’ve never felt this organized in my life. Part of that is the GTD system, but having a nice place in which to implement that system REALLY helps.

Since that fateful meeting with Scott, I’ve discovered that Moleskine notebooks have an almost cultish following, as does Getting Things Done.

There’s just something appealing and satisfying about solving a complex issue (how to handle all the stuff I have to do in a moderately stress-free manner) with VERY low-tech, high-quality tools.